94 SIDELINES MARCH 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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A Few Minutes with Jimmy Wofford
By Lauren R. Giannini
James C. Wofford was destined long before birth to be
a horseman. It’s in his genes, pun intended. In January,
Jimmy was honored by the USEF with its highest accolade,
the Jimmy A. Williams Trophy for Lifetime Achievement – a
huge deal and well deserved. He is Mensa smart, profound
and profane. He has a low tolerance for BS and he might
come across as cranky but his heart is as gold as that
trophy Stetson is Tiffany silver, which ft him quite nicely.
His sport is three-day eventing, what used to be called “The
Military” – ftting as he grew up in a military family and spent
years during his youth in Kansas at Ft. Riley, when it was
horse Mecca.
Jimmy is a three time Olympian, winning two team silver
medals and one individual silver. In 1970 and ’78, he
earned team and individual bronze medals in the World
Championships. He won the US National Championships
fve times with fve different horses. In 1986, he came out
of competitive retirement to win Rolex with Karen (then
Lende) O’Connor’s ride, The Optimist, owned by Bert and
Diana Firestone. Jimmy is in the Hall of Fame at the US
Eventing Association and also at his alma mater, Culver
Military Academy.
As a clinician, coach and trainer – well, look at his
students: he has had at least one student on every Olympic,
Pan Am and World Championship team since 1978.
“Graduates” of the Wofford program include: Gina Miles,
David O’Connor and Kim Severson – all Olympic individual
medalists. If you can’t take lessons from Jimmy, check out
his books. For more information, visit: useventing.com,
jimwofford.blogspot.com and Google James C. Wofford
with or without Carawich, his greatest horse.
Sidelines:
What is your pet peeve about the horse world?
JCW:
Riders and trainers in a hurry. That award I just
got is named for Jimmy Williams and he had a wonderful
expression: people always have time to do it over – they
have to do it over because they didn’t take the time to do it
right the frst time.
Sidelines:
What is the best thing to happen to the
eventing world since they eliminated the classic format for
international competitions?
JCW:
I think the best thing is in the process of happening:
that the course design pendulum is swinging back. For a
while we got too cute, too technical and too repetitive in the
questions we were asking. The pendulum is swinging back
now, thanks to designers Derek di Grazia, designer of the
2011 Rolex and Fair Hill (2003 Pan Am Games) and Ian
Starke who designs Galway, among others.
Sidelines:
What do you think prompted the rash of
catastrophic falls a few years ago?
JCW:
The change from the Classic Format to short format
brought an increased emphasis on dressage. Riders and
trainers crossed the line from discipline to domination:
that was the cause of many of the falls during that period,
because the horse’s initiative had been suppressed.
Lucinda Green said it: horses do not want to fall. They
really do not want to fall; but you saw rotational falls on
the upper levels with very experienced horse and rider
combinations. With an inexperienced horse and rider, the horse
would refuse or run-out. It was counter-intuitive that that’s what
was happening – that the initiative, which in an experienced
horse tends to be a valuable trait on the cross-country, was being
suppressed. The knee-jerk response was that the rotational fall
would more likely occur with an inexperienced horse and rider; but
it was exactly the opposite.
Sidelines:
Do you agree with the “one fall and out rule”?
JCW:
I see both sides of that, but I’m against the one fall and
out. I think riders should be allowed to remount. It is partially
to do with the fact that there’s a trend in society: people want
the appearance of risk without the consequence. They want to
engage in a risk sport, yet they want the risk diminished. We
are entering into the natural world with our horses, partially to get
away from the artifciality of modern life. However, in the natural
world, catastrophic failure is a possibility. One of the many
aspects of eventing that is so interesting is that we must work very
hard to develop our skill, because skill alleviates risk. If we admit
James C. “Jimmy” Wofford was honored with the USEF Lifetime
Achievement Award and was presented with the Jimmy Williams
Memorial silver cowboy hat. His contributions to eventing as a
rider, teacher, broadcaster and author and for his work serving
on the governing bodies of the AHSA/USEF and USCTA/USEA
earned him this top accolade
Photo by Kim MacMillan/MacMillan Photography
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